Nov. 2, 2012 (China Knowledge) - The value of total retail sales in Hong Kong grew 9.4% YoY to HK$34.1 billion in September this year, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department.

The growth in retail sales was higher than the revised increase of 4.6% in August when retails sales stood at HK$35.8 billion.

Netting out the effect of price changes, sales volume grew 8.5% YoY in September, after rising 3.2% in August.

In September, the retail sales volume of miscellaneous durable consumer goods experienced the biggest rise, up 69.5% YoY, followed by a 18.1% surge in the sales volume of alcoholic drinks and tobacco, 13.6% increase in electrical goods and photographic equipment, 10.3% increase in commodities in department stores, 8.5% increase in miscellaneous consumer goods and an 8.4% increase in footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories.

However, the volume of sales of motor vehicles fell 4.4% in September, followed by a 2.9% decrease in sales of furniture and fixtures.

In the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong's total retail sales rose 10.6% in value or 7.4% in volume compared with the same period in 2011.